Jason Liebman on Creating a Space for Digital Activists

Liebman, 35, a former Googler and CEO of the DIY video site Howcast, is building a platform to empower digital activists around the world.

"IN 2007, COALITION forces found an Al Qaeda manual on how to be a terrorist. We said, 'Hey, let's create an alternate manual to use tools to promote nonviolent social change.' So Jared Cohen, who was then at State [now at Google], and I launched Movements.org to bring together activists, NGOs, governments, and tech and media leaders to network and share best practices. We have a set of how-to guides — everything from how to anonymously post online to what to do if your Internet goes down. We tell people, you can use Tweet-to-Speak, which Google rolled out during the Egypt uprising, to dial in from a landline and tweet. We're trying to provide the resources for activists to do what they've been doing for a while, but more effectively and faster."

A version of this article appeared in the May 2011 issue of Fast Company magazine.